Sparrow & The Wolf
by MsLane
Summary: One would hardly recognize the once immaculate looking Barden U now; nor would anyone believe that it is now home to only a handful of students. The apocalypse came out of nowhere, seemingly without warning and it had spread fast.


"Guys, come on. We really need to make that pharmacy run. We're running a little low on pain meds and antiseptic." Cynthia Rose says, trying to convince at least one of the two women standing in front of her.

Beca shakes her head, "Dude, no. It's way too late in the day. We can go tomorrow."

Chloe tilts her head, weighing the options before asking, "How much is left?"

Cynthia Rose shakes her head solemnly, "If Fat Amy wasn't hurt as bad as she is, we could hold off going for about a week…We're gonna be completely drained of both by tonight."

Beca's face falls at the implications of this. Fat Amy is far worse than she had thought.

Chloe nods to herself before turning to Beca, "I think we're going to have to make this run Becs. We'll be mad quick, there and back again."

Beca nods her head, now having a greater understanding of the dire need of these supplies. A part of her wishes Cynthia Rose had opened with that, instead of letting them waste time that they could have been making use of.

"Go get the keys. I'll grab the weapons. We're running in and out. No stopping for anything else, okay? We're cutting it really close."

Chloe nods, blue eyes completely serious as she turns away from the two women and makes her way to the key box.

Beca watches her walk away, unable to keep her eyes from dropping low for a beat, a small grin forming on her face before she sighs and turns to Cynthia Rose and says, "Give Fat Amy a hug for me. We'll be back soon. Tell Aubrey she's got to keep her eyes peeled. Have Stacie man the gate…Have Ashley leave the infirmary to help Aubrey. We need all hands on deck and on high alert until we get back home."

Cynthia Rose nods solemnly, quickly walking away to alert everyone to what's happening.

One would hardly recognize the once immaculate looking Barden U now; nor would anyone believe that it is now home to only a handful of students.

The apocalypse came out of nowhere, seemingly without warning and it had spread fast.

The only reason that there's any type of safety at BU is because of Aubrey and Chloe. The two of them had always planned for different situations and they had suffered through being the butt of many jokes because of that.

However, no one was more grateful for their preparedness than Beca.

The second they had caught wind of the news of the apocalypse, they had set their contingency plan into motion. They managed to seal off the main BU building on campus, making sure the building they chose was one with the most supplies and room for accommodations. Between the two of them, they had made sure they filled the building with canned goods and bottled water, with a myriad of weapons in the form of various sporting equipment.

Aubrey had also somehow managed refurbish a couple of cars and trucks so that they were armored and reinforced.

They had managed to save quite a few people initially, but surprisingly, not many of them wanted to stay. Most wanted to attempt leaving, not really understanding the gravity of the situation, or simply not caring.

Whatever the persons reasons, Beca still thought it was ridiculous of them to leave somewhere that was obviously safe, with only the _hopes_ of maybe finding someplace else to stay and wait.

Beca rolls her eyes as she picks up her favorite spiked bat and Chloe's preferred re-purposed lacrosse stick.

"All set?" Chloe asks, a gleam in her eyes as she watches Beca gathering their things, her fingers absentmindedly jingling the keys.

Smiling up at the redhead, Beca says, "Totally. Let's do this."

Chloe playfully smacks her ass as Beca passes Chloe on her way out of weapon's storage, which had originally been a lounge area, causing Beca to let out a little yelp of surprise.

She's met with peals of laughter from Chloe at that, and Beca can't help but chuckle; no one else gets away with shit like that, but then again, no one else is Chloe.

"One of these days I'm gonna get you back for all the ass smacking Chlo."

The redhead gives her a smoldering look as she coyly smiles at her, leaning in close and husking in her ear, "Promise?"

Beca blushes, unable to say anything , allowing Chloe to get away with slipping her hand into her own unoccupied one.

"One day it is then." Chloe says, sighing exaggeratedly, giggling as she leans her head against Beca's for a moment before pulling away when they get close to the vehicle.

The mood shifts quickly when they step into the truck. Neither one of them is particularly ready to acknowledge this shift, so they ignore it altogether.

They are both very aware of the risks of going out so close to sunset. The true danger lies if they're still out past dusk.

Beca shudders at the thought of still being out past then, and she has to physically shake her head to stop that treacherous train of thought.

"Don't forget to take the left at the fork alright? We never got around to clearing up the wreckage on the right."

Chloe nods, a tight lipped smile on her face, "Got it. Thanks for the reminder. We'd have lost time backtracking otherwise."

Beca returns the smile, "I got your back Chlo."

They fall back into radio silence, the tenseness of the situation only broken by the sound of the road and the occasional crunching of something neither one of them wants to acknowledge.

They make it to the pharmacy in just over twenty minutes, and Beca thanks their lucky stars there weren't any surprise obstructions on their way.

"I'm going to run in, alright? Keep your hand on the ignition, any sign of trouble and you pull out of here like a bat out of hell, got it?"

Chloe swallows thickly, but nods, eyes wide as she turns off the ignition, shrouding them in true silence.

The two of them have their gazes locked and there are so many unspoken words being shared across the both of them before Beca clears her throat, gives Chloe a wink, before she slips out of the car and slams the door shut behind her.

She's quick in assessing the building's entrance, to this day thankful that Chloe had had the foresight to reinforce an establishment that had supplies. There was no way any surviving looters or zombies were getting into _this_ pharmacy.

Beca pulls out the key for the steel door, and the padlock securing it, and shoves both the keys as well as the lock into her pocket before quickly walking in and making a beeline for the pain meds and antiseptic.

She pulls off her backpack and fills it to the brim with as much as she can before securing it onto her person, quickly taking a visual inventory of the remaining supplies around her.

Beca wagers they've still got about a couple of months before they'll need to crack open another pharmacy and haul things back to this "safety deposit box."

There's shuffling that she can hear from the back of the building and it causes her shoulders to tense right up and has her immediately throwing her weight against the steel door and slamming it shut behind her, forcefully locking the padlock in place before running to the car.

Chloe, who had seen the door fly open, starts the car and the second the passenger side door is open, before Beca is even fully seated, she's careening out of the parking space and taking them back towards safety.

"There was shuffling 'round back, I didn't want to risk it."

Chloe just nods once.

They both know it could have easily been another human. One just looking for some help. But the chances of that person _not_ being infected already…Neither one of them was ready to take the chance on some Random.

Twilight passed quickly and it was nearing complete nightfall. This knowledge alone is enough to have Beca even further on edge. As if either of them weren't already sufficiently on edge.

"We've got about five more minutes before it's totally nightfall." Chloe says darkly, more to herself than anything, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly as she silently wills the car to go faster, or for time to stop, whichever one would be easier.

Beca stops herself from voicing out that they still have about a fifteen minute drive back, figuring it would be best not to say what they both are more than just aware of.

It's only when Chloe finally flicks the headlights on does Beca say anything.

"I fucking hope Aubrey's got the gates ready. I _so_ don't want to have to wait for the damn things to go up."

Chloe gives her a chuckle, "I'll make sure I start flashing the lights so she sees us way ahead of time."

Beca's sarcastic quip is cut off by Chloe suddenly jerking the car to the left, "Fuck!"

The exclamation leaves Beca's mouth without thought, her heart hammering a wild beat in her chest.

Chloe doesn't say anything as she continues to push down even further on the gas pedal, leaning even further forward, as if that alone would somehow help make them go faster.

"What the hell was that Chloe?" Beca asks, her heart having finally vacated her throat.

"A Swarm was just ahead. I saw the headlights gleam off of them and made an executive decision to turn sharply, rather than take our chances barreling through them."

A bubble of nervous laughter leaves Beca, "I'm just glad we've got working seatbelts in this thing. That woulda been a whole lot different if we were in the Dodge Ram."

Again Chloe swerves, this time Beca sees it coming and braces against the turn.

"Shit, Beca…There's no way back on any of the main roads. The Swarms are all out. If we go through the inside streets, I don't know how long before we make it back- nor do I know how much longer we can keep just detouring…We're gonna run out of gas eventually."

Swallowing thickly, Beca nods as she pulls out the emergency cell phone, "I'm calling in to let them know. I trust you Chlo. You've got this."

Chloe gulps and readjusts her grip on the steering wheel. "No pressure at all." She mumbles causing a wry grin to form on her own face, a similar one making its way across Beca's face.

"Hey so-cutting to the chase; we've got lots of company…they're all out and about and we're off the main roads, no way round it. Have someone on the back entrance incase we can't make it around to the front."

Beca starts and ends the call without so much as a greeting or goodbye, and Chloe understands, it isn't a social call anyways.

"It's gonna be alright Chloe, you just keep driving us right for BU." Beca says a lot more calmly than she feels. The only indication of the anxiety she's feeling is shown in the ever tightening grip she has on her bat.

Chloe nods and is grateful for Beca being by her side. She's fairly certain if it was anyone else in the car with her right now, she'd be full on freaking out right now.

Her brow furrows suddenly, her eyes glancing down at the gauges in front of her, "Something is really wrong Beca…we're slowing down."

"No no. No Chlo, this is not the time for this hunk of junk to quit o-"

Chloe's head snaps to look at her, "The fucking gas tank is empty. It was literally a little over halfway a second ago."

Beca's eyes widen, "Fuck. _Fuck!_ "

She grab the phone and calls back in, "Look, we're a few minutes out, but the car is dead. No gas. For some fucking reason there's no goddamn gas in this fucking car and we're stuck. We're gonna go powerless after I hang up."

Chloe's big blue eyes fill with tears as she watches Beca hang up the phone and cradle her head in her hands. Beca takes a few deep breathes before sitting back up right and reaching out for the redhead, "Hey, hey, come on Red. It's gonna be okay. Cut the ignition, turn the headlights off and come here."

Sniffling slightly, Chloe does as told and she shuffles closer to Beca, glad to have her to hold. Chloe wraps her arms around Beca's neck as Beca wraps her arms around her waist and pulls her close, "It's not your fault Chlo. The fucking meter obviously sucks ass."

Chloe bites her lip and nods stiltedly as she mumbles into Beca's neck, "Yeah, but if I had just picked the bug rather than this stupid truck."

Not able to really think of anything else to say Beca remains silent and just draws shapes against Chloe's back, trying and failing to not pay attention to the noises outside their car.

"It's been a good run, ya know?" Beca asks, a small smile on her face as the two of them pull apart slightly to be able to properly look at each other as the undead seem to draw even closer to their car.

Chloe lets out a shuddering breath as she drops her arms from around Beca's neck to her waist and squeezes, "Please don't talk like that."

"Like what? I'm serious Chlo. Beside, I wouldn't want to go any other way than with you." Beca says this so seriously and matter-of-fact-ly that Chloe is simply astounded.

"We aren't gonna go like this Becs. We can't. We're so close to being home."

The sounds of bodies scraping against the sides of the truck is now even more pronounced, the windows not thick enough to completely drown out the sound of the groaning either.

Beca gives her a smile, "Yeah well, I'm just saying though? If we don't make it home? I'm glad I was with you."

Just as Beca was getting ready to do something insanely stupid, the sound of a roaring engine blazes past their car and manages to scatter undead every which way.

"That's Bumper! Oh my God, that's Bumper!" Chloe exclaims, the shock too much for Beca to say or do anything except gawk as the armored vehicle turns back around and makes another run for the rest of the zombies on the other side of their car.

"Aubrey must have called- I can't believe he came for _us_."

Beca laughs loudly, removing her hand from the door handle she was seconds away from opening. Her mad attempt to try and allow Chloe some more time to get rescued by distracting the undead away by using herself as the live bait.

"He'll come back around, when he does, we need to grab our shit and run straight for it, he wont be idling for long." Beca says, finally back in the game, grabbing Chloe's stick and handing it over, before putting the backpack on again and locking it in place around her waist.

In true GTA form, Bumper skids to a halt a few feet away from them and Beca and Chloe shove their doors open in unison before making a dead run right for the car.

There's a bit of a scuffle between the both of them and a few undead who managed not to get hit by Bumper's car. It takes a little while but the both of them manage to knock them away with a few good throws and well placed kicks.

The two women make another mad dash for the car, high off of the adrenaline.

It's Chloe's scream of, "Beca your left!" that alerts the brunette to the incoming attack, and she's ready for it with a swift uppercut with her bat, hearing a hearty thud as the spikes meet with the body it was intended to.

Turning to make sure Chloe isn't too far behind she's met with nothing.

The panic sets in immediately and she feels like she's suddenly drenched in a cold sweat, the color leaving her face, "Chloe?!"

" _Get into the fucking car Mitchell! You're girlfriend's already made it in here!"_

Bumper's voice registers and she hauls ass into the car, not even fucking caring that for the second time this day the car she gets into pulls into drive before she's even completely in.

"Don't fucking scare me like that!" Beca says as she punches the redhead that's sitting beside her, sweaty and breathing heavy but there and alive.

Chloe laughs, breathlessly, "You're one to talk! Fuck Becs, maybe watch where you're going, you almost ran right into its arms!"

"Fuck." Beca manages, her own laughter bubbling as she leans against the redhead, completely spent.

It takes less than two minutes for them to get to safety, and Bumper wastes no time in kicking them out of his car so he can clean up then take off back to his own base.

He waves them off when they try and thank him, "Whatever right? What're friends for or something."

Chloe and Beca watch as he begins meticulously cleaning the outside of the car, before deciding to leave him to it, knowing it would be useless to try and talk him out of leaving tonight.

"I'm just gonna run this by to C.R. and I'll be right back; save me some hot water?" Beca asks, her eyes already starting to droop in exhaustion.

Chloe nods her head, a smile on her face, "You got it Becs. Hurry up though, no promises if you take longer than five."

Beca grins and takes a few steps backwards, keeping their gazes locked, before quickly making her way to find Cynthia Rose to hand over her backpack.

"Oh my God, you guys are okay!" Stacie says as she rushes forward and wraps Beca in a large hug, causing Beca to chuckle as she returns the hug just the same.

"Yeah thanks to Bumper. And he came just in time too…" Beca trails off and leaves it at that, not really wanting to let on just how close she was to playing the martyr, ready to sacrifice herself just to ensure Chloe had even just a little while longer to be able to get rescued.

"Could you take this to C.R.? There's a warm shower waiting for me and I really need it like ASAP." Beca asks as she holds out the pack with the supplies in it for Stacie to take.

The tall brunette gives her a knowing grin and nods her head, "Sure thing Beca, tell Chloe I'm glad she's okay too."

Fighting off the blush, Beca nods her head, "Yeah uh, sure I'll let her know."

Beca darts away quickly and skids to a stop, taking a deep breath before stepping into the bathroom, inhaling the smell of _clean_. She can hear Chloe in the stall in front of her and she grins to herself as she undresses and carefully makes her way to the stall next to her, "Thanks Chlo."

The redhead just hums and Beca thinks nothing of it, and simply enjoys the spray of clean water for a while before gabbing the soap and quickly scrubbing herself clean.

Chloe's shower turns off before hers and Beca hears her walk out of the stall and presumably gets herself a towel and leaves.

She's wrong though.

Because when Beca finishes up and walk out of her own stall, Chloe is still in the bathroom.

She's sitting on the bench in the middle of the bathroom for them to put their bags and things, her back is towards Beca and her towel wrapped around her waist, leaving her back exposed to Beca.

And Beca wishes she hadn't walked out when she had, just so she could be ignorant to this.

There in the middle of Chloe's back is a bite.

Not too large, not overly deep, but a bite none the less.

Beca's shoulders fall defeated at the sight. Her heart shattering before she's even totally aware of the situation; when she's caught up the pain she feels in her chest just seems to grow.

"Hey Beca? Did you finish your shower already? I need you to check something out for me…My back is itching me and I'm wondering if I've gotten a bug bite, or maybe a scratch…" Chloe trails off when she turns her head and notices Beca just standing there.

"Beca! You're gonna catch a cold! Where's your towel?" Chloe quickly stands and pick up said towel from beside her and gives it to Beca, who mechanically wraps herself up in the fluffy towel that smells of Chloe.

"Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." Chloe asks teasingly, her hand lifting to push away a lock of Beca's hair away from her face.

The brunette closes her eyes at the contact and takes in a shuddering breath as she feels Chloe's hand trail down her cheek and cups it, causing Beca to open her eyes and meet with Chloe's concerned ones, "Beca?"

The tears forming in her eyes don't appease Chloe in any way, "What's wrong?"

Shaking her head, Beca expels the air that she had inhaled slowly before quietly saying, "N-nothing. It's nothing, let me have a look at your back."

Chloe gives her a funny look but moves back towards the bench and takes a seat, plopping down by her discarded towel.

Beca bites her lip from crying out as she comes closer and sees just how angry the bite looks.

"Is it bad?" Chloe asks, tone full of uncertainty and worry, and it's enough to snap Beca out of it.

"No. No it isn't bad at all Red. Just lemme go grab some ointment and I'll be right back, alright? Don't move." Beca clears her throat before impulsively dropping a kiss to Chloe's exposed shoulder before walking out of the bathroom.

She takes a turn into her room and grabs her pocket knife, breathing deeply and shallowly all at once.

"Fuck." She shudders out, before grabbing the rubbing alcohol and cotton balls and making her way back to the bathroom.

"You know you could have gotten dressed first, I'd have waited…not that I'm complaining." Chloe says, a mischievous grin on her face.

Beca forces herself to chuckle at that, "Well you know, I'm pretty confident about all this."

A look of recognition crosses Chloe's face at that and she smiles widely as she responds, "You should be."

Beca sighs as she indicates to her to turn around, "I'm just gonna clean around this, you should be good as new sweetheart."

Beca can practically hear Chloe purr after that term of endearment, and her heart is thudding in her chest as her hands shakily trace the bite. She takes her time cleansing the area, and really all she's doing is delaying the inevitable, but she really can't bring herself to get this over with any faster.

This isn't easy.

She never wanted this to happen.

No matter how many times she's mentally been bombarded with these situations, in the middle of the night, when she's trying to sleep, she never once thought she'd be actually faced with it. Not Chloe.

Her right hand drops to hold the knife she had placed in her lap when she sat down and she tightens her grip on it as she weighs just what to do.

Chloe calls her name quietly, "Beca?"

She hums in reply, her eyes still staring down at her lap.

"I don't want to mess anything up between us…we're in a really good place you and I…but I just…I'd really, _really_ , like to kiss you please."

A lone tear falls from her eye at that statement. And Beca is quick to wipe it away as she bites her lip and lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, "I'd…I'd like that very much Chlo."

The redhead turns slowly, her eyes finding Beca's so quickly it's as if they're just always aware of the other. Her eyes are bright and full of all of this light and Beca has to bite her tongue to keep from sobbing at the sight.

"Yeah?" Chloe questions hopefully, her eyes darting between Beca's.

Nodding, Beca says, "Oh yes, I'd love nothing more than to get a kiss from you Chloe."

The excited squeal that leaves Chloe's body doesn't surprise Beca in the least, but it does surprise her that it came out because of her wanting to kiss her. She didn't think she'd ever get to be so lucky as to have Chloe want her back. And yet here she is, at the most inopportune time, asking to be kissed.

"I've wanted to do this for so long Beca, I can't believe…I-may I please kiss you now?" Chloe asks, going from giddy to very seriously asking for permission and it breaks Beca's heart and builds it up all at once.

"Yes _please_." Beca whispers, her own desperation seeping into her tone.

And all at once she's no longer sitting on a bench with Chloe, but rather she's in space, flying through time and matter and everything in between.

Chloe Beale is kissing her and Beca wishes she could live in this moment forever.

"You're crying." Chloe whispers against her lips, barely moving away from Beca as she says this, her tone concerned.

Beca shakes her head, "It's silly…I just I've wanted this for a long time too and I've finally gotten to do it. These are happy tears."

Chloe gives her a dazzling smile and rubs her nose gently against Beca's before leaning back in and giving her another kiss.

Beca shyly traces her tongue along Chloe's lips, silently asking to deepen the kiss and Chloe wholeheartedly agrees and the minute their tongues meet, it's another explosion of sight and sound and Chloe is soaring, absolutely not about to come back down to Earth any time soon.

And Beca is silently crying, trying her hardest to memorize every little thing about this wonderful woman in front of her.

Chloe traces her hands up Beca's face and holds her there, thumbs rubbing against her wet cheeks, thinking they're just happy tears, believing Beca when she said they were happy tears; how could she not believe her, when Chloe herself is fighting against the surge of happy emotions she's feeling. And Beca is still very much kissing her back with everything she's got, and Chloe can't believe just how wonderful this feels; to be kissed and held by Beca, the one person she's only ever wanted, truly.

The knife is buried deep in Chloe, and it goes to show just how far along the infection is that she didn't really notice it at all. She's dying in Beca's arms and all Beca can do is cry as she holds Chloe close, kissing her eyelids as she whispers, "I love you."

" _I love you…_ " she sobs, her tears not about to stop any time soon, her heart thundering in her chest as she sees the life drain from Chloe's body.


End file.
